Data storage is becoming more and more important in a world that heavily relies on and stores a multitude of kinds of data including spreadsheets, database tables, images, documents, and other types of data to various types of computer-readable media. Sometimes data is stored in the main memory of a computing device, such as in Random Access Memory, while other times data is stored more remotely such as on an external storage device such as, for example, a disk drive, a DVD, a USB key, and the like.
Stored data is typically retrieved using a query entered into a search engine or a database engine in order to retrieve tuples of data from the location where it is stored. The stored data is typically indexed to allow the search or database engine to find the data that satisfies the predicate of the query. Data can be queried as a point query (e.g., the query can specify to return data for a given day), or can be queried over a range (e.g., the query can specify to return data for a range of days).